Rust -had- been enjoying his nap ever so much. He'd even been dreaming about napping! But of course, it was never meant to be- Not with a Fern on the way. He woke with a startled grunt as she landed firmly on his back, flailing an arm.
"WHOWHYWHA-.... Hey, Fern. Sup, Sapphire."He yawned, jaw audibly cracking in the process.
"Just.... Drag me onto the plane, or something."And, despite Fern being on his back, he seemed to have little trouble just... Drifting right back off into his nap land. Dreaming about naps. While napping. In a nap dream.
Despite his sleepy state, he seemed to just automatically, subconsciously flip Tillian off as he arrived, arm just kind of floating in the air. While he snored.
Fern crossed her arms as she pouted.
"We're not going on a plane you dunce, we're clearly taking a boat. Can't you see we're at the... Are you sleeping already!?" she asked, sounding upset that he hadn't even stayed awake long enough to listen to her talking. Rolling her eyes, Fern moved away from him then, going to stand by Sapphire as she gave a warning glare toTilian.
Tilian looked at them all. For some reason they all looked not very amused. He then saw Rust. Give him the finger while sleeping. Tilian raised an eyebrow and got an evil smile on his face. He then snapped his fingers, and his weapon appeared. And to everyone's suprise it started to morph into a giant middle finger that was pointed at Rust for some unkown reason.
"Hey guys sorry I'm late. Hope I didn't miss the briefing or anything. He walked up to them like nothing was happening.
Fern glanced over at Tilian as he asked if he missed anything. She was about to respond to him when she saw his familiar weapon morph into that of a floating 'fuck you' sign at Rust. She reached out a whacked the back of his head, saying a random threat as she usually did.
Sapphire watched as Fern let go of Rust and walked over to her.
"My turn," Sapphire says, quickly leaping off of the box and flying, arms out, in the direction of Rust.
"Rust! How have you been?" She asks, almost casually, as she wraps her arms around him. She begins to purr, smiling, staring up at him. Fern couldn't help the jealous glare she aimed at her friends.
And once again, poor Rust had his nap interrupted violently by a flying female. Sapphire, at least, was lighter. He woke with a sigh, peering up at her with a squint.
".... Sleepy."He rather lazily wrapped an arm about her shoulders to yank her down into cuddle mode- And dropping riiiiiight back off to naps. Such a sleepy guy, for being so hardass. After a moment, though, his eyes snapped open again, ever-so-dramatically turning towards Tillian and his giant middle finger.
"I see. You do realize, Tillian, that this means -war-? Just as soon as I finish with my nap. Juuuuuust as soon as I finish...."Insert scratching of Sapphire's ears here, as well as the response of many purrs and a nuzzle or two.
Fern's pout turned into a full frown once she saw Rust cuddling with Sapphire. She marched over to them and gave a hard kick to Rust's side.
"Get up already, it's time to go. You two can sleep on the way there." she told him, turning away and heading towards one of the large boats that was waiting for the two teams.
Sapphire, who had been busy cuddling Rust, was surprised to see Fern's kick striking Rust. Her eyebrows raised.
Rust grunted, wincing- And flailing his way.... Right off the edge of the dock. There was a brief shout of surprise, followed shortly by a splash and a wave of steam off of the water, some of which struck Sapphire, making her squeal and move away from the scary water. Anybody who looked over the edge would see a very grouchy looking Rust blowing a stray lock of now-soaked hair out of his face, steam rising off of what water touched his skin.
".... I was enjoying that nap.""Rust, are you okay!?" Sapphire calls out, peering from on top of her box at him, a look of genuine concern on her face.
" Oh my Rust I hope your okay." Tilian said with sarcasm dripping off it.
Slowly, like a corpse climbing from the grave, Rust made his way out of the water, heat-drying himself on the way.
"Oh, perfectly fine, perfectly fine. Just remind me to accidentally tip Fern into the water, later."He grumbled, patting his hair dry as further steam rose off of his skin. Rust is too hot to be wet. Sapphire giggles and gives him a wink in response.
I can throw her in right in if you want. But I think you would want it because of a diffrent reason. Wink wink", He said grinning as he walked up to Rust the giant middle finger having disappeared.
Rust grinned, extending a fist for that classic fist bump.
"Now now, let's be civil. At least in front of the ladies." There was another giggle from atop the box.
Annnnnd he is now awake.
Tilian returns the fistbump.
" So how have you been doing? Sleeping as always?" Meanwhile, Sapphire approached from her vantage point, having leapt off of her box, landing perfectly on her feet. Sometimes being a cat faunus had benefits.
-Meanwhile-
While the others were doing their thing, Fern was walking along the docks, looking at some of the boats there, hoping that she could find somone she reckognized to show which boat was theirs. One such boat was large and sported familair colors that reminded her of the airships from Atlas, and so Fern approached that one, seeing a militairy official guarding the entrance.
"Hey, you. Do you have any idea which one of these ships is sailing to Patch?""And you are?" the soldier asked, looking at her.
"Fern Flora. I was sent here by Professor Ozpin. Now, are you going to answer my question?""Wait here." the man said, causing Fern to frown and cross her arms. She wasn't particularly one to wait around or do what she was told, but this was better than going back to the others and having them piss her off again. She sighed and scolded herself. Fern had to remember that she needed to keep her emotions in check and keep her head on straight.
"Whatever. It's not like I even care what they do." she said to herself.
The sound of footsteps brought her out of her thoughts as she was approached again by the soldier.
"Right. Where's the rest of your people?"Fern pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
"The idiots over there. There's eight of us. And uh..." she lowered her hand and looked at the ship.
"This is a really huge ship for just eight of us.""Don't you know? We're-""I'll take it from here, soldier." a voice came from inside the ship behind the man. Fern leaned to the side and looked around the man, her eyes growing large when she saw who it was.
"General Ironwood? What are you doing here?" she asked, wondering what he could possibly be doing in Vale.
"Ozpin sent you, right?" he asked her, to which she nodded. The General glanced at the group of others who were still waiting a few yards away.
"Do you... have any idea what's going on?" he asked her again.
"I only know what Ozpin told me. Which... well you know him, he's not the most detailed person. He said we'd figure out the rest of the assignment while we were there.""I see. Well, gather the others. We're leaving now." he said, turning away from her before she could answer.
Fern raised an eyebrow and nodded at his retreating back before turning around and walking back to the others.
As Fern approached, Rust cut off from his description of how summer break with family had been, glancing over with a nod. Now that he was awake, at least, he could recognize it was time for business.
"What's the news, then? Time to get going?"Sapphire had followed Rust, purring, wanted some more ear scratches from him. He happened to do those the best.
"Do we have to go on a ship? I mean, can't we like, just not go over the water at all? I don't mind taking the long way."Fern nodded and twirled a bit of her hair casually.
"Yeah its time to go. We're going to that big grey ship over there." she said, pointing to the one she'd just come away from. Glancing at Sapphire, she hesitated as her first response would have come out a bit rude, and she revised the words in her head.
"Considering Patch is an island surrounded by water, I don't think we can avoid it." she turned from them then.
"Come on, let's just go."Fern waved over to Paris and the others of team PYCH.
"Hey guys, it's time to go. You can follow us."@Katakon @Dawkins @Kiltmanbagz @agentmanateeTilian was a little insulted how Rust cut the conversation. Then he saw Ironwood, goddamn Ironwood. He had heard of this man and what he stood for. And while Tilian usually didn't care about politics. However this man was everything he hated. So it was time to cut the stupid teen crap. He focused more becoming as emotionless as possible. This man was not gonna read him like a book. And he was gonna make goddam sure that did not happen. He then walked towards the ship. His face a mask of disipline. He walked up to Ironwood looked him straight in the eyes and said.
" Sir."He then saluted. And walked into the ship.
Rust lofted a lazy brow as Tillian just up and left them, shrugging it off and giving Sapphire an idle pat on the head before following, keeping next to Fern to discuss the plan. Sapphire edged a little closer to him as she followed Rust, half considering to hang onto his arm.
"Did you find out what this job is really about? You were pretty vague over the scroll the other day- And Ozpin wasn't very forthcoming either, when I asked him."Fern took a step away to allow Sapphire to squeeze between her and Rust as she approached, and she responded to Rust's question.
"Not really. But I see that Ironwood is going to be coming with us. I assume this is some kind of militairy operation, or else... well, he wouldn't be there. I assume he's going to let us know once we're on board. For now, the only thing we know is we're basically going to be protecting his men. I saw a soldier on the ship and I assume there are plenty more." she paused as her lower lip was capture between her teeth in a nervous bite.
"I can't help but worry though. I wonder what's going on in Patch." she said, glancing over Sapphire's head at Rust.
Sapphire was getting shakier every step that was taken toward the ship. She was tempted even to just freeze up and flat out refuse to go.
"Do we have to-" She paused as she caught sight of the water under the ship. She completely halted where she was, and took a step back a second later.
"No," she simply said, sitting.
Rust nodded slightly, a look of worry flashing over his features.
"Yeah... If we're being roped into a military operation, something must be very wrong."He drummed his fingers on the hilts of Sear and Scorch at his thighs, gripping them for a source of comfort, in a sense.
"Maybe we'll be fighting more Grimm than we bargained for."He blinked when Sapphire up and dropped, pausing mid-stride. Right... Afraid of water.
"You can have catnip if you get on board."Sapphire's ears perked up. "R-Really? Y-You will?" She asks. She lowers her head slightly, staring up at Rust. "Wait, you aren't trying to lie, are you?" She asks. Her tail sways behind her, smiling.
He shrugged.
"Of course not. Get on the boat, you get catnip. But you have to get on board first."[color=0072bc]"D-Do I... Do I have to? I don't want to."[/colour] She stared for a few moments, before closing her eyes and standing up. She slowly walks forward, holding out her hand to feel her way toward the ship. She squealed as she fell into the water just a moment later, screaming. Quickly, she scrambled, trying to get back up, crying.
Ironwood couldn't resist a small chuckle as he looked at the mess that was Sapphire. The General walked over and took the arm of the small girl, hefting the shivering Faunus up back onto her feet easily.
"So. This is what Ozpin sent me to work with. That's just splendid." he said, his tone sounding a bit irritated.
"Hopefully this doesn't reflect how you are on the battlefield. For your sake." he said, letting her go and clasping his hands behind his back. Stepping aside, he gestured with his head for everyone to get on board the ship.
"We can't afford to waste any more time. Let's go."Fern narrowed her eyes at the general and went over to her friend, taking Sapphire's hand and leading her onto the ship, making sure she didn't slip again.
"For the record, we're the best Ozpin would have sent you." she mumbled as she passed the General, pissed that he dared to talk to her friend like that.
"Come on, Sapphire. Let's go and get you dried off before you get a cold."Sapphire couldn't help but give a quick glare at Ironwood as he spoke a little badly of her, but she relaxed once she was taken into the ship by Fern. Her quivers of fear from the water that dripped from her mixed with the shivering from the freezing cold created a lot of shaking as she was taken in. "T-Thank you. Thank you," She whispers to Fern, before turning her head to Rust. She leans to the side and nuzzles Fern, before she turns her head and blows a kiss to Rust, motioning for him to follow.
Rust, of course, was completely oblivious to the kiss, once again shuffling his zombie-like way towards the boat. The moment he was on board, he just straight up flopped over, pulled his pillow out of hammer space, and slept. Again. Poor heart throb doesn't even realize the ladies like him.
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